IPL to blame for injury woes: Langer

BRISBANE: Australia coach Justin Langer suggested Wednesday the delayed Indian Premier League was to blame for so many injuries marring Australia’s blockbuster series’ with India. The short-form extravaganza normally begins in March, but along with other major international sporting events was postponed as countries went into coronavirus lockdowns.

It was then moved to the UAE as cases rose in India and only got under way on September 19, culminating on November 11. Players then had to go through a 14-day quarantine in Australia with the ODI series starting almost immediately after they were allowed out.

“It’s really interesting how many injuries there have been throughout this summer,” said Langer. “We suffered through it during the white-ball series and (India) through the Test series.

“We’ll review this, but I can’t help think that the IPL this year probably wasn’t ideal timing for anyone, certainly for such a big series like this.”

Pucovski ruled out

Rookie Australian opener Will Pucovski was on Thursday ruled out of the fourth Test after failing to recover from his shoulder injury and will be replaced by Marcus Harris. Skipper Tim Paine said Pucovski, who made a half-century in his debut game in Sydney, could not clear the fitness test on the eve of the game. He injured his right shoulder on day five of the drawn third Test.

“Will Pucovski won’t play tomorrow. He tried to train this morning and didn’t quite come up so, he would have a bit of work to do I imagine with our medicos to see where he goes from here but I think he is obviously missing this Test match,” Paine said at the pre-match virtual press conference. “...Marcus Harris will replace him and there will be some discussions around Will’s recovery.”